Most conventional housings for electronic communication devices (e.g., communication receivers, transmitters, and paging terminals), incorporate the electronic circuits via some form of circuit supporting substrate (e.g., printed circuit board). The circuit supporting substrate is typically secured to the housing with fasteners and associated hardware. Usually, one or more screws are driven through apertures in the circuit supporting substrate and secured to the housing using corresponding nuts and washers.
In some housing arrangements, molded-in hooks are moved or deflected to insert or remove the circuit supporting substrate. Usually, molded hooks are prone to overstress failures and have a limited number of operations (insertions and withdrawals of the circuit supporting substrate) prior to damage or destruction. Moreover, designing for sufficient deflection to prevent overstressing may be impossible in confined areas when using extremely stiff materials, such as structural foam, due to the long moment arm required.
Unfortunately, securing the circuit supporting substrate to the housing using only the above described conventional techniques detrimentally affects the manufacturability and serviceability of the electronic device. Moreover, the additional parts and additional assembly steps add manufacturing cost to the product. Also, due to the increased opportunities for introducing defects during manufacturing and assembly, the quality of the product as perceived by the consumer is seriously degraded. Lastly, servicing the product requires additional assembly and disassembly steps, which increases the time and cost for service and repair. Accordingly, a need exists for a retaining arrangement to effectively improve this situation.